Maybe we could ask ourselves a few questions: if heaven invaded our life today, we would be overwhelmed with how much it's not about us. Is there any place we're sitting in the wrong chair? Is there any place you're sitting in the centre? Is there any place you're obsessed with how well you rank? How much energy do we spend trying to rank properly? How much energy do we spend trying to rank properly? We ask ourselves: am I thin enough, smart enough, tall enough, rich enough, fast enough, social enough? Do I own enough? How much energy do we spend comparing rank? How much energy do we spend trying to be richer, smarter, skinnier, happier, hipper, prettier, taller, shorter, thinner, bigger, important-er, talented-er? Are we stuck in the land of 'er? Heaven delivers us from that. Heaven delivers - the problem with 'er, is that there's always an 'est. There's always someone who has more. You'll never get to the end, ever. Heaven delivers us from that.
How does this notion translate into how we see God? If heaven invaded us today, we would not care where we ranked; we would be overwhelmed with God's presence. And Jesus' calling is to allow heaven to be established where? In you, right now. So if you were in heaven you wouldn't care how you rank, you'd be overwhelmed with God's presence. Why aren't we just being overwhelmed with God's presence, and ceasing to care with how we rank today? What's stopping us? Why not let that part of heaven be established in you right now? What has it done for you lately anyway? It causes a lot of strife and division, and agony and arguing.
16,900 children are going to die today of starvation, and Christians are arguing about verses. What!
How about this: how easily are we offended? Jesus described heaven as: tormenting to those who don't forgive. That makes a lot of sense. If you're forced to eat at the same table, and watch someone get the same wage you did, and you won't forgive them - that's going to be tormenting. Oh by the way, the word translated torment there, is the word basanizo. It just simply means "to test the purity of something". It's a touchstone - if you were selling me gold in the First Century, and I wasn't sure if you were being honest, then I would take the gold, and I would rub it against a touchstone to see if it was pure. So when the word - I don't know where they got torment from. It just simply means: they'll be purified - they'll be rubbed up against the touchstone, until they come up pure. In other words: there's things, until you deal with it, it's going to keep coming back on you. That's so true, so true.
Five, where have we abandoned the dignity of others, in the central nature of the throne, in the name of ego? Where's Jesus not in the centre? Where's Jesus not in the centre? Maybe we could say it this way: if heaven invaded our lives, we would not be impressed with any of our righteousness - no one would be worthy. We would simply be overwhelmed with God.
We're talking about discipleship today - as a disciple of Jesus Christ, your biggest calling and opportunity is to allow heaven to be established in you right now. In heaven, you will not care who was righter; you will only care about being overwhelmed with the presence of God. My invitation to you today, is to allow that to be true now. Why not? Jesus' invitation was allow heaven to be established in you now. If that's the way it's going to be in heaven, why not make it true now, and let this world reflect what heaven is? Can I get an amen on that?